The Domino Effect
by J.A. Carlton
Summary: Every Life Touches Another... sometimes in ways we don't expect.


The Domino Effect – SN fic/oneshot

by: J.A. Carlton

aka sifichick

Disclaimer… always

Love… never dies

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They say that every life touches others….

Dean and Sam exchanged a long familiar look, each nodding, knowing his part.

"Go with Sam, he'll get you out of here…" Dean said sternly to the young woman between them as he cocked his .9mm and glanced around the edge of the brick alcove.

"What?" he asked noting the skeptical look on her face and the fact that she didn't make any effort to actually physically move.

"Why?" she asked.

"What?" he asked, certainly he hadn't heard her right.

"Listen Shelia…" Sam tried to get her attention and looped his arm around her shoulders, "we gotta get you out of here…this isn't time for this right now…"

"Why? They're not here yet…" she looked between the boys on either side. She hadn't asked for their help. They'd just showed up asking the right questions one day, and apparently they thought they could change things.

Sam looked from the young woman to Dean, his confusion mirrored in his older brothers' face.

"Which is why we need to get you out of here before they get here okay?" Sam asked trying to guide her to her feet. _She's in shock, that's all… it's gotta be shock… she's been home to four entities for years… she's bound to still be a little freaked…_Sam read the exact same thought in Dean's expression.

"No," she shook her head slowly looking from one brother to the other.

"Shelia we don't have time for this… now you need to go with Sam… let him get you out of here…" Dean persisted though he was beyond confused by her unwillingness to cooperate. Sure they'd met folks who were reluctant to accept the truth of their situation, even after being faced with evidence, but it was as if she just didn't seem to grasp the imminent danger.

"Mmmm no," she said without the barest trace of sarcasm or emotion. Her head cocked to the side as Sam got into position to sling her over his shoulder if need be, but her hand flashed out snatching his gun from him before either of them knew what she was doing. She then stepped into the open, firing into the body of one of the entities as it approached.

It had taken almost sixteen exhausting hours for the Winchester boys to draw the four entities out of her, each expelled only to become manifest elsewhere, thankfully within a few hundred yards of her apartment. Now they just had to kill them before they tried to get back into her.

_What the hell!_ Dean shot Sam a look that would've been funny under other circumstances. If there wasn't a woman in shock, with blindingly fast reflexes, now armed with Sammy's gun and firing into the street… yeah it might've been funny.

Sam locked his arms around her from behind, one hand closing on the weapon he succeeded in disarming her quickly and drew her back into the safety of the alcove where Dean rounded on her after taking a quick look into the momentarily empty street.

"Are you crazy!... Do you want to get us all killed?" he looked at his brother, "Get her out of here Sammy… Now!" he ordered though his expression betrayed him. Sure he was angry and surprised but more than that, he was unnerved. His brother had been disarmed and evaded by someone that seemed to have no more motivation or capability than a pampered lap dog. _Did we miss one? God tell me we didn't miss one… I can't watch that again! _Dean thought remembering how as each of the entities was pulled from her he could see it clawing at her on the inside, trying to remain anchored within, in some cases talons ripping through her skin, through her clothes... and as hard as she'd tried to keep from screaming… through the pain he could see in her agonized gaze she'd clenched her jaw, bit her lip and pounded anything within reach to keep from screaming out, letting them do what they'd come across the country to do. _Please… I can't see her go through that again…_ When all was said and done all three of them had been limp with exhaustion, Shelia Evans once again a solitary being laying on the floor curled in the fetal position dripping wet and about as responsive as a rag doll. They'd tended her as if she were a child, wiping away the sweat with a cool cloth, gently coaxing her out of whatever dark place she was hiding in inside her mind.

Dean couldn't shake the image of Sammy holding her on his lap, rocking her gently and trying to get her to drink some water. For over an hour she'd been nearly catatonic until she trembling started. They were small tremors at first but both men knew it was a precursor to a full on freak out and they'd been right. Within ten minutes of that first shake she'd managed to lash out hard and panicked enough that both he and Sam were shaking their heads clear while she crouched in a corner, hands over her head and trying not to choke on her sobs.

_God I hope we didn't miss one! _

All this flashed through his mind as Sam guided her to her feet, this time she followed, not resisting in the least. "Be careful!" he admonished his younger brother sternly and with the rapid exchange of motions and looks he knew Sam understood and would be on his toes, just in case.

_Freakin' insane-o!_ Dean thought then shook his head shamed by his momentary callousness. _Tie her up and stick her in the trunk if you have to Sammy… we're gonna finish these bastards tonight… if I can figure out how… rock salt doesn't work, consecrated iron rounds only slow 'em down… holy water doesn't work so we know they're not demons in the traditional sense… what the hell is gonna kill these bastards!_ he wondered angrily and fired on the first entity as it righted itself and started moving on his position and joined by the other three, _All that headway lost because she asked 'why?' Crazy!... nah… just still in shock is all… but still… she did grab that gun like… Please be careful Sammy… something ain't right…but man that was a beautiful move… so fluid…_

"Sammy…." he ground out stepping into the street and firing off four rounds, delaying the entities long enough for him to get a good head start back toward the car. _He'll be more careful… she took him by surprise, he won't let it happen again…. I wonder if she knows how to kill these things? _

As Dean set off at his fastest run toward the car, hoping that they'd somehow find a way to get these entities to die Sam stood at the open trunk sifting through their weapons cache for something that might work on a more permanent level with these creatures, while Shelia kept watch, Sammy's gun in her hand, eyes peeled for anything amiss.

"Do you have any idea how they latched onto you?" he asked hefting a gallon of holy water to the back of the trunk.

"How?" she repeated softly, her voice soft and satiny and somehow reminding him of chocolate milk, "Mmm mmm…"

Sam cast a glance back at her, he could feel her trying to struggle through everything they'd put her through, to step out into the light in a psychological sense and he felt her essence, something in her that was bright and shiny like a new penny. He thought maybe after he'd been so easily disarmed by her, that he might be in the presence of a natural born hunter, someone who could help them in their fight against the evils in the world. An ally in the war they were apparently destined to fight.

"Have you ever been able to sense any weaknesses? Anything that could help us kill them?" he asked straightening up and looking down into her deep brown eyes.

Her gaze never wavered from his and her expression showed nothing. If he'd been talking to her anywhere other than in the middle of the street while trying to kill inhabiting entities he might have been unnerved and more than just a little wary, but given what he and Dean had put her through in the last day he figured she had a right to be a little numb.

"Uh uh…" she shook her head before cocking it to the side for a second then looking back deep into his eyes. She tucked the gun into the waistband of her pants and cupped his face, gently bringing him to her.

_Well this is certainly going to be interesting…_ Sam thought as the familiar and happy sensation of butterflies flapped in the pit of his belly. He thought of Jess, and he thought of Sarah then he thought only of Shelia as her lips brushed his, warm and soft as satin. A tentative wisp of a kiss at first and he felt himself shudder at the base of his spine. He felt her smile in the space between them and began to smile himself as she grasped his lower lip between hers, gave a gentle pull and pressed her mouth firmly to his.

He felt something sparkly happen in his brain as the butterflies took wing through his body and his hands cupped her face then slid around her pulling her into him, her curves to his planes. A buttery groan slid between them and Sam felt her warm hands slide up his torso, over his shoulders and back to come to rest once again, cupping his face, her fingers in his hair as her thumbs traced his jaw line tenderly. He felt a small bit of pressure beneath her thumbs and knew nothing else as his body fell toward the ground, eased all the way down as she caught him gently. She leaned down and whispered into his ear before nipping his lobe and rising.

_Now where… ahhh yes… where are they? I should see them by now…_ she thought straightening up from the trunk. Her eyes fell on Sam, unconscious on the ground under Metallicar's rear bumper. He was too big for her to try and put into the car, she'd just have to bank on the fact that Dean would be so pissed or scared or both that he'd go to Sam first… before trying to run her down.

_Come on, come on… I thought you were fast Dean!_ she thought leaning against the rear fender and looking longingly at one of the sweetest men she knew while the other rounded a corner and caught sight of them. She kissed her fingers and pressed them to Sammy's lips then rose to her full height as Dean's consternation turned to visible anger.

"What the hell did you do to him? Sammy!" he called as she smiled and took off running over the shallow hill and deep into the town park.

"Shelia! Sammy…." he breathed letting her go as he stooped, trembling and touched Sam's neck. Relief gushed out of him when he felt the strong steady pulse and he groaned as the entities that had been chasing him veered off course and set their sights on the woman that had been their home for years. Patting Sam on the chest he rose and gave chase, hoping against hope that he could find a way to save this woman from her own stupidity.

Dean crested another hill and stopped short. At the foot of the next hill he could see Shelia on her knees, backed into a natural corner, two entities remaining as one of them cast itself aloft and slid into her screaming mouth.

"No! Shelia!" he called as he watched, heartsick as the fourth one likewise returned to its home.

He heard footsteps from behind and wheeled around, his gun in hand as Sam crested the rise and gasped at the sight of the woman on her knees in the darkness, haloed by moonlight. She straightened and seemed to clasp her hands in front of her.

"Come on Sam!" Dean urged and grabbing Sam by the jacket started toward her.

Sam refused to move and clutched furiously at Dean, "No! Dean… No..."

"What do you mean 'No'! We have to help her!" Dean hollered angrily and tried to break free from his younger brothers' grip.

"No Dean! It's over… there's only one way they can be killed…"

Even as the words left Sam's mouth the thunderous clap and flash that shattered the quiet of the wee hours struck Dean hard with disbelief.

"No!" Dean cried in horror as smoke began to drift from the small crater at the foot of the next rise where Shelia Evans had allowed herself to be re-consumed.

He looked from the smoking hole to his little brother, his hands clenched fists on Sam's jacket, his eyes liquid, "Why?"

Sam shook his head.

"Why? Sam! You tell me!" Dean stormed. All that energy and pain and he'd still lost her life… "Why?"

Sam shrugged and shook his head, "All she said was that she understands now…"

"What?" Dean asked incredulous and felt a squiggly feeling in the pit of his guts as it started to become clear to him. She'd known they couldn't kill the entities without killing her, over the years they'd become a part of her. Within her person they were subjected to the limits of her physiology, outside of her body, they had no limits.

Sirens in the distance brought their minds back to the reality of their situation. They were several blocks away and well blended with the rest of traffic as the fire trucks and police cars descended on the area they'd just left.

Though whatever was left of Shelia Evans' physical body would return to the Earth as it should, the boys were left with an unshakable certainty, part of her would remain with them always, and part of her would remain with anyone who's life they came into contact with from that point on. Through Sam and Dean, Shelia Evans had learned how to become immortal.

Please be so kind as to R&R... it's what we live for.

thanks

sifi


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